1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power adapter, and particularly to a power adapter which interconnects different types of power connectors so as to provide a power transmission therebetween.
2. Description of Related Art
The design of a mother board is repeatedly upgraded for complying with an issuance of each new electrical member to be mounted thereon. Some peripheral electrical devices such as a power supply and the related power connector must also be adapted to accommodate the new type of printed circuit board. Therefore, various different interface standard power connectors are continually proposed to be applied in a computer interior structure. However, such power connectors according different interface standard are generally featured in different configurations and each has different numbers electrical contacts therein. Understandably, such different interface standard power connectors cannot mate directly. Many electrical adapters, thereby, are designed to interconnect those different interface standard connectors.
Generally, the electrical adapter electrically interconnecting with different interface standard connectors performs the functions of signal/power transmission and conversion therebetween by two ways. If the numbers of electrical contacts of the different interface connector are equal, the adapter may mechanically and electrically connect corresponding contacts directly. In the other hand, the adapter need comprise a printed circuit board thereof which can perform the functions of signal/power transmission and conversion if the numbers of the different standard connectors are different. Obviously, the adapter having a printed circuit board would add expense relative to the adapter directly interconnecting the different interface standard.
There also exists in the art an electrical connector known as a Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (Serial ATA) connector which is generally used for disk drives and storage peripherals connecting with the mother board. It should be noted that the Serial ATA power connectors according the Serial ATA standard are in added power contacts than other conventional power connectors used in Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) and are relatively different in configurations. Correspondingly, the present problem people in the art confronts, is that a storage peripheral using a Serial ATA power connector may be required to connect with an existing mother board which originally uses a conventional IDE power connector to connect with the storage peripheral, for the speed or other considerations. Under this situation, it is not convenient to wholly replace the system, which adds cost. Accordingly, a power adapter interconnecting the Serial ATA power connector and the conventional IDE power connector is desired. Furthermore, the power adapter without printed circuit board is required to save cost.
Hence, a power adapter for interconnecting the power connectors of different interface standard is required to overcome the disadvantages of the related art.
Accordingly, a first object of the present invention is to provide a power adapter for electrically interconnecting a Serial ATA power connector and a conventional IDE power connector.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a power adapter which can perform the functions of power transmission and conversion without printed circuit board.
In order to achieve the objects set forth, a power adapter in accordance with the present invention includes a first power connector according Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (Serial ATA) Standard and a second power connector which is a generally conventional IDE power connector. The first power connector comprises a first housing and a first contact module consisted of a plurality of first contact units assembled in the first housing. The second power connector comprises a second housing and a plurality of second contacts mounted in the second housing. Each of the second contact is aligned and cooperated with a corresponding first contact unit of the first contact module to form a transmission path. A plurality of latch devices is provided on each opposite end of the first housing and the second housing for fastening each other. The power adapter is designed to connect a Serial ATA power connector with a conventional IDE power connector.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.